Adult Stem Cells: The Best Kept Secret In Medicine

Stem cell therapies and their lifesaving results are arguably the best kept medical secret. Stem cells are currently being used in several thousand FDA-approved clinical trials, are treating tens of thousands of patients every year, and cumulatively over 1.5 million people have been treated to date. Yet these numbers, and the lifesaving results from stem cells for dozens of conditions, are unknown to most. Why the information blackout? Perhaps for lack of an adjective.

You see, those heartening numbers are all due to adult stem cells. Long ignored by the media and disparaged even by many in the scientific community, adult stem cells – those not dependent on the destruction of embryos – are the true gold standard for stem cells, especially when it comes to treating patients.

A recent New York Times piece provides a perfect example of the disinformation campaign. Early on, the author discusses the theoretical nature of stem cell treatments and bemoans the fact that “progress is slow,” almost all the research “is still in mice or petri dishes,” and “The very few clinical trials that have begun are still in the earliest phase.”

Whether through ignorance or bias, the sole focus is clearly on embryonic stem cells. Such writing, however, serves to confuse, not illuminate, the facts about stem cells and therapies.

Our focus is indeed on adult stem cells both because they are efficacious for patients, as well as because adult stem cells are derived without the destruction of the stem cell donor, unlike embryonic stem cells and fetal stem cells. Both positions are based on the facts of biology.

The New York Times’ Kolata criticizes various “stem cell clinics” within the U.S., primarily via a paper by two long-time proponents of embryonic stem cells (though this is not disclosed in the article or in the paper), but paints a broad-brush across clinics operating legally and ethically as well as the shady operators. It then juxtaposes the critique of U.S. stem cell clinics with the tragic story of a patient who traveled to three different overseas clinics to receive “stem cell injections” and developed a growing mass of cells on his spine from at least one of the injections. The implied warning is that all U.S. adult stem cell clinics are using similar methods, and, by extension, their patients may experience similar problems. Indeed, many clinics are offshore to avoid FDA rules, but yet again the article drops adjectives and sows confusion. The New England Journal of Medicine source on the case notes that the patient supposedly received proliferating cells including embryonic and fetal stem cells. Certainly all clinics should operate within appropriate ethical and legal boundaries and patients should receive all information, including published background and whether the cells being used are adult, fetal, or embryonic; this is simply a matter of getting full informed consent. But fearmongering and misinformation help neither the patients nor the science.

The stem cell science deniers continue to denigrate adult stem cells, denying their successes or even at times their existence by dropping the necessary, descriptive adjective. But for patients, adult stem cells are the true gold standard for stem cells. The hope of adult stem cells is being realized right now, for thousands of people around the globe. Those stories, those doctors, those patients who have been helped by adult stem cell treatments, deserve to be heard. People like Cindy Schroeder who thought she was given a death sentence when she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. But Cindy’s doctor was informed on the facts of modern medicine, and was able to inform Cindy and her family that there was hope—from adult stem cells. Over a year after her “stem cell treatment,” Cindy leads a full, active life and her family is closer than ever. Her story, like that of thousands of others, is not theoretical; it’s real adult stem cell science.

Dr. David A. Prentice, VP & Research Director for the Charlotte Lozier Institute as well as Adjunct Professor of Molecular Genetics at the John Paul II Institute, The Catholic University of America, and an Advisory Board Member for the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center.

Multiple Sclerosis Responding Well to Stem Cell Therapy

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the nerves and muscles that is generally regarded as untreatable. In fact, when patients are diagnosed with this condition, the usual treatment is merely to support the problems and not attempt to cure the underlying cause. This is generally because there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, but recent attempts into using stem cell therapy in this disease have proven that it may actually be more treatable than traditional doctors expect. Of all the conditions stem cells have been used to treat, multiple sclerosis seems to respond the best to the process.

How Stem Cells Help Multiple Sclerosis

Stem cells can help a condition like multiple sclerosis because the symptoms arise from the breakdown of nerve cells in the body. Plaques form on the nerves and cause impairment to the muscles that respond to those nerves. It is usually a systemic problem, and nerve tissue very rarely regenerates. When nerve tissue is damaged, it tends to remain that way for the rest of the person’s life, causing a great deal of pain and anguish to the patient.

When using stem cells to treat multiple sclerosis, the cells are actually given in a systemic way. They are inserted into the body using an intravenous line, and the cells go anywhere they are needed. In addition, stem cells can differentiate into the cells needed at the time. This means that stem cells can regenerate nerve tissue because they can form the progenitor cells that allow for new nerves to grow. For this reason, stem cells are able to regrow nerve cells that are impacted by the multiple sclerosis, restore movement to muscles, and decrease pain. When the cells are taken from a liposuction procedure, the amount of cells harvested is much greater than with other methods, and this means a more forceful result for the multiple sclerosis patient.

Results from Our Patients

The results from our patients who have multiple sclerosis have been nothing short of fantastic. We have found that all of the patients who had our treatment came away with some improvement in their condition. This isn’t to say that the disease was cured or went into remission. It simply means that those who had our treatments reported a substantial decrease in various symptoms at the three month and six month marks in their journey. For example one patient described:

“…Bad headaches are gone, vision is better, skin rashes are gone, head tremors are better, neuropathy in feet and hands improved, brain fog has improved; balance/ falling has improved, muscle twitching is gone, jaw/locking is gone; flu like systems are better, terrible nightmares are not happening anymore…”

“Before the treatment I went from the bed to the couch. Now I am able to do some things throughout the day.”

This is good news for multiple sclerosis patients because it means there is something more you can do than simply supporting symptoms. Stem cells offer a way to treat some of the underlying symptoms and help to alleviate them. When other doctors have nothing but medications to keep you comfortable, stem cells have an excellent track record for making multiple sclerosis patients feel better than any other form of treatment. Although it is not a panacea to get rid of all your problems, it is definitely something to look into if you suffer from this condition. Many people around the world have tried stem cells for multiple sclerosis, and it is only a matter of time before it becomes the mainstream treatment for this debilitating condition.

UV Light Therapy allows physicians to treat a patient’s blood 100% without the use of blood thinners, where as traditional transfusions treat only 5%.

Although UV Light Therapy has been around for several years, with modern technology this form of therapy has become more affordable as well as accessible.

What to Expect During Treatment?

First Step, our technicians will use a standard 20-gauge catheter to establish an IV site.

Second Step, our technicians will insert a dry light adapter into the catheter, and securing it. The saline drip flows through the dry light adapter and into the catheter, hydrating the patient during treatment.

Third Step, our technicians will connect the patient cable to a calibration port and runs the calibration process. The physicians will connect the

cable to the dry light adapter, and securing it with the integrated spin lock ring.

How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is Helping Those with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often leads to devastating results not because of the initial blow to the head, but instead because of the inflammatory processes that follow as a consequence of the hit. Thus, preventing or slowing the inflammation that occurs after the trauma to the head can vastly improve patient outcomes. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been shown in animal models to reduce this inflammation and thereby protect the brain from significant damage. Now, scientists help clarify exactly how HBOT has this advantageous effect on the brain. This new research was recently published in the journal Neuroimmunomodulation.

The scientists used four groups of mice: one without injury and without HBOT, one without injury with HBOT, one with TBI without HBOT, and one with TBI with HBOT. They expected that the final group, which had both TBI and the HBOT intervention would show significant differences in performance and in physiology before and after the treatment, whereas the other groups tested at different time points would not show these differences.

As expected, the researchers found that HBOT led to better motor performance and lower brain swelling, known as edema, in the group of mice that had TBI. After HBOT, these mice also had lower protein expression of elements that contribute to inflammation. Specifically, the expression of inflammasome components, IL-1b, IL-18, and high-mobility group box 1 were all reduced by HBOT following TBI.

These findings corroborate previous findings that HBOT is a beneficial intervention for TBI and help explain exactly how HBOT confers its positive impact on a traumatically injured brain. Future research will help identify the best ways to use this therapy to help patients who suffer trauma to the head.

Research has pointed strongly toward autologous adipose tissue-derived mesencymal stem cells (AdMSC‘s) as a treatment option for a number of neurological diseases. There is growing evidence that these cells can successfully differentiate into neurons in the brain, thereby protecting the brain against certain diseases of the central nervous system. Adipose tissue is particularly attractive when seeking to use mesenchymal stem cells (MSC’s) because it is easy to retrieve MSCs in this type of tissue. Now, a case study published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports demonstrates how AdMSC‘s were successfully used to treat a patient suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a disorder closely related to Parkinson’s disease.

There are currently no good treatment options for PSP. Dopaminergic drugs that are used for Parkinson’s disease are often implemented with PSP patients because of clinical similarities in these diseases. However, the benefits are both minor and short-lived. As described in this case report, researchers successfully used a novel form of therapy on a 71-year old South Korean man with PSP.

The man was examined before his treatment and continually for six months afterwards. The AdMSC protocol improved the patient’s performance on the Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Rating Scale (PSPRS) and improved both his cognitive performance and his ability to conduct daily activities. In addition to the treatment’s efficacy, it also bore limited safety concerns, as mild fever and short-term elevated blood pressure were the only adverse side affects observed with the procedure.

The patient underwent four intrathecal and five intravenous infusions infusions of AdMSC’s to increase the chances of clinical efficacy. Specifically, the strategy of the intrathecal infusions was to increase the likelihood of getting the AdMSC’s into the central nervous system. However, because the intrathecal cavity is narrow, the dosage that can be achieved through this route is limited. Thus, intravenous injections were administered as a way to increase the dosage amount. Though this success of AdMSC’s administration in PSP is just the beginning, it represents great potential for the use of stem cells in this rare but deadly disorder.